With the way 2016's The Purge: Election Night concluded, the horror franchise about people being able commit any crime they want without consequences once per year could easily have ended as a trilogy. However, Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures are keeping the terror going on the big screen by looking to the past for the fourth Purge movie. James DeMonaco, the creator of The Purge franchise, stated several times over the last year and a half that he planned on having The Purge 4 follow the first Purge event ever carried out. Fast-forward to today, it's been officially confirmed that the movie, which is now officially titled The First Purge (it was previously called The Purge: The Island), will indeed follow that "momentous" occasion, though it will start out just being contained to one metropolitan area rather than the entire United States.
For those who need a refresher on The Purge franchise's history, in 2014, a political organization called The New Founding Fathers of America seized control of the U.S. government and established a totalitarian regime. As part of its sweeping changes, the NFFA passed the 28th Amendment a few years later, which legalized the Purge event. The First Purge will follow the NFFA testing the Purge for the first time as a way to decrease the crime rate to below 1% for the rest of the year. The leaders will use Staten Island as the testing ground where people vent their aggression for one night without fear of being arrested. However, when the "violence of the oppressors meets the rage of the marginalized," this experiment will break out of the trial city borders and spread across the nation.
Along with this plot synopsis, Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions also released the first poster for The First Purge, which is clearly inspired by the Make America Great Again hats from Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
Directed by Burning Sands' Gerard McMurray, The First Purge's main cast includes Y'Lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Jovian Wade, Luna Lauren Velez and Marisa Tomei. This isn't the only prequel Purge project in the works either, as a TV series is in development that will follow this world the other 364 days out of the year and explore how the 28th Amendment affects people. The show will reportedly premiere on USA Network and Syfy later this year. However, for those of you who have always wondered how the first Purge event went down, you'll finally get to see that tale unfold in a theatrical setting half a year from now.
The First Purge will be released in theaters on July 4, a.k.a. Independence Day. To learn what other movies are coming out this year, head to our 2018 release schedule.
